Djong: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Javanese sailing ship}}

[[File:Situs civitatis Bantam et Navium Insulae Iauae delineatio.jpg|thumb|300x300px|Depiction of a three-masted Javanese jong in Banten, by [[Hieronymus Megiser]], 1610.]]

==Etymology==

It was claimed the word ''jong'', ''jung'', or ''[[Junk (ship)|junk]]'' comes from the [[Min Chinese]] word ''jüng'' ({{Zh|c={{linktext|船}}|poj=chûn|p=chuán|l=boat; ship}}).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Junk |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/junk_n3?tab=etymology#40254649 |website=Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref> However, Chinese ocean-going tradition in Southeast Asia was relatively new – until the 12th century, most trade between the regions was carried in Southeast Asian vessels.<ref name="Lim 2016">{{cite web | last=Lim | first=Lisa | title=Where did the word 'junk' come from? | website=South China Morning Post | date=2016-08-28 | url=https://archive.today/20211027162229/https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/2008869/where-did-word-junk-come | access-date=2024-02-27}}</ref> Paul Pelliot and Waruno Mahdi reject the Chinese origin of the name.<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4527050 | jstor=4527050 | title=Les grands voyages maritimes chinois au début du XVe siècle | last1=Pelliot | first1=Paul | journal=T'oung Pao | year=1933 | volume=30 | issue=3/5 | pages=237–452 | doi=10.1163/156853233X00095 }}</ref><ref name=":7"/>{{rp|38}} Instead, it may be derived from "jong" (transliterated as joṅ) in [[Old Javanese]] which means ship.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zoetmulder |first=P. J. |title=Old Javanese-English Dictionary |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff |year=1982 |isbn=9024761786 |location=The Hague}}</ref>{{rp|748}} The first record of [[Old Javanese]] ''jong'' comes from [[Balinese copperplate inscription|Sembiran inscriptions]] in Bali dating to the 11th century CE.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last=Jákl |first=Jiří |date=2020 |title=The Sea and Seacoast in Old Javanese Court Poetry: Fishermen, Ports, Ships, and Shipwrecks in the Literary Imagination |journal=Archipel |issue=100 |pages=69–90 |doi=10.4000/archipel.2078 |s2cid=229391249 |issn=0044-8613|doi-access=free }}</ref>{{rp|82}} The word was recorded in the [[Malay language]] by the 15th century<ref name=":12" />{{rp|60}} thus practically excludes the Chinese origin of the word in Malay.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Manguin |first=Pierre-Yves |date=1993 |title=Trading Ships of the South China Sea. Shipbuilding Techniques and Their Role in the History of the Development of Asian Trade Networks |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient |pages=253–280}}</ref>{{rp|266}} The late 15th century ''[[Undang-Undang Laut Melaka]]'', a maritime code composed by Javanese shipowners in Melaka,<ref name=":30">{{Cite book|last=Reid|first=Anthony|title=Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce 1450–1680. Volume Two: Expansion and Crisis|publisher=Yale University Press|year=1993|location=New Haven and London}}</ref>{{rp|39}} uses jong frequently as the word for freight ships.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book|title=Charting the Shape of Early Modern Southeast Asia|last=Reid|first=Anthony|publisher=Silkworm Books|year=2000|isbn=9747551063}}</ref>{{rp|60}} European writings from 1345 through 1609 use a variety of related terms, including ''jonque'' ([[French language|French]]), ''ioncque'', ''ionct'', ''giunchi'', ''zonchi'' ([[Italian language|Italian]]), ''iuncque'', ''joanga'', ''juanga'' ([[Spanish language|Spanish]]), ''junco'' ([[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]), and ''ionco'', ''djonk'', ''jonk'' ([[Dutch language|Dutch]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/jonque|title=JONQUE : Etymologie de JONQUE|website=www.cnrtl.fr|language=fr|access-date=2018-03-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Galang|first=R.E.|date=1941|title=Types of watercraft in the Philippines|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eh2kmqa6czMC&q=juanga|journal=The Philippine Journal of Science|volume=75|pages=287–304}}</ref>{{rp|299}}<ref name=":12" />{{rp|60}}

While the Malays of Malacca of the 16th century owned jongs, they were not built by the Malay people or by the [[Sultanate of Malacca]]. Malacca only produces small vessels, not large vessels. Large shipbuilding industry does not exist in Malacca — their industry is not capable producing deep-sea ships; only small, light, fast-sailing vessels. The people of Malacca purchased big ships (jong) from other parts of Southeast Asia, namely from Java and Pegu, they did not built them.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cortesão |first=Armando |url=https://archive.org/details/McGillLibrary-136388-15666 |title=The Suma oriental of Tomé Pires : an account of the East, from the Red Sea to Japan, written in Malacca and India in 1512-1515 ; and, the book of Francisco Rodrigues, rutter of a voyage in the Red Sea, nautical rules, almanack and maps, written and drawn in the East before 1515 volume II |publisher=The Hakluyt Society |year=1944 |isbn= |location=London}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>{{Rp|250}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Meilink-Roelofsz |first=Marie Antoinette Petronella |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tL4cAAAAIAAJ |title=Asian trade and European influence in the Indonesian Archipelago between 1500 and about 1630 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff |year=1962 |location=The Hague}}</ref>{{rp|39}}<ref>{{Cite book |title=Kesultanan Melayu Melaka: Warisan, Tradisi dan Persejarahan |publisher=Penerbit USM |year=2021 |isbn=9789674616069 |editor-last=Arifin |editor-first=Azmi |editor-last2=Ismail |editor-first2=Abdul Rahman Haji |editor-last3=Ahmad |editor-first3=Abu Talib}}</ref>{{rp|124}}<ref name=":02">Halimi, Ahmad Jelani (2023, June 20). ''Mendam Berahi: Antara Realiti dan Mitos'' [Seminar presentation]. Kapal Mendam Berahi: Realiti atau Mitos?, Melaka International Trade Centre (MITC), Malacca, Malaysia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq3OsSc56Kk</ref>

==History==

[[Faxian]] (Fa-Hsien) in his return journey to China from India (413–414) embarked on a ship carrying 200 passengers and sailors from ''K'un-lun'' which towed a smaller ship. A cyclone struck and forced the passengers to move into the smaller ship. The crew of the smaller ship feared that the ship would be overloaded, therefore they cut the rope and separated from the big ship. Luckily the bigger ship survived, and the passengers were stranded in ''Ye-po-ti'' ([[Yawadwipa]]—Java). After 5 months, the crew and the passengers embarked on another ship comparable in size to sail back to China.<ref>Groeneveldt, Willem Pieter (1876). "[https://archive.org/details/notes-on-the-malay-archipelago/page/n7/mode/2up?q= Notes on the Malay Archipelago and Malacca, Compiled from Chinese Sources]". Batavia: W. Bruining.</ref>{{rp|6–7}}<ref>{{Cite book|first=Michel |last=Jacq-Hergoualc'h|url=https://archive.org/details/malaypeninsulacr00jacq|title=The Malay Peninsula: Crossroads of the Maritime Silk-Road (100 BC-1300 AD)|publisher=BRILL|year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/malaypeninsulacr00jacq/page/n90 51]–52|isbn=9789004119734 |url-access=limited}}</ref>

The word "jong" itself was first recorded in the [[Old Javanese]] language from a Balinese inscription from the 11th century AD. The [[Sembiran inscription|Sembiran A IV inscription]] (1065 AD) stated that merchants came to Manasa in Bali using jong and bahitra. The first record of jong in literature comes from ''Kakawin Bhomantaka'', dated late 12th century AD.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2008 |editor-last=Hauser-Schäublin |editor-first=Brigitta |editor2-last=Ardika |editor2-first=I Wayan |title=Burials, Texts and Rituals: Ethnoarchaeological Investigations in North Bali, Indonesia |journal=Göttinger Beiträge zur Ethnologie |doi=10.17875/gup2008-416 |isbn=978-3-940344-12-0 |issn=2512-6814|doi-access=free }}</ref>{{rp|222, 230, 267}}<ref name=":8" />{{rp|82}}

=== Majapahit era ===

''Kidung'' ''Panji Wijayakrama-Rangga Lawe'' (compiled as early as 1334 AD)<ref>Damais, Louis-Charles (1958). "[[iarchive:i.-etudes-depigraphie-indonesienne/page/1/mode/2up|I. Études d'épigraphie indonésienne : V. Dates de manuscrits et documents divers de Java, Bali et Lombok]]" ''Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient''. Tome 49, pp. 1-257.</ref>{{rp|56}} mentioned a nine-decked jong (''jong sasangawangunan'') during the [[Mongol invasion of Java|war with the Mongols]] (1293 AD). It looked like a volcano because of its sparkling and flickering thundercloud decorations, its sails were painted red. It carried 1000 people equipped with ''gandiwa'' (bow), ''[[Bedil (term)|bedil]]'', shields, ''towok'' (javelin), ''[[Kanta (shield)|kantar]]'' (long shield), and [[Baju Rantai|''baju rantai'']] (chainmail).<ref>Berg, C.C. (1930). ''[https://archive.org/details/rangga-lawe/page/90/mode/2up?q= Rangga Lawe: Middeljavaansche Historische Roman: Critisch uitgegeven]''. Batavia: Kon. Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen (''Bibliotheca Javanica'', 1).</ref>{{rp|91}}

==Decline==

Anthony Reid argues that the failure of the jong in battles against smaller and more agile Western ships may have convinced the Javanese shipbuilders that the large but less agile jong faced too much risk against the European style of naval battle, so the ships they built later were smaller and faster.<ref>Reid, Anthony (1992): 'The Rise and Fall of Sino-Javanese Shipping', in V.J.H. Houben, H.M.J. Maier, and Willem van der Molen (eds.), ''Looking in Odd Mirrors'' (Leiden: Vakgroep Talen en Culturen van Zuidoost-Azië en Oceanië), 177–211.</ref>{{rp|201}} Since the mid-16th century the maritime forces of the archipelago began to use new types of agile naval vessels that could be equipped with larger cannons: In various attacks on Portuguese Malacca after the defeat of Pati Unus, they no longer used jong but used [[Lancaran (ship)|lancaran]], [[ghurab]], and [[Ghali (ship)|ghali]].<ref name=":16">Manguin, Pierre-Yves (1993). 'The Vanishing Jong: Insular Southeast Asian Fleets in Trade and War (Fifteenth to Seventeenth Centuries)', in Anthony Reid (ed.), ''Southeast Asia in the Early Modern Era'' (Ithaca: Cornell University Press), 197–213.</ref>{{rp|205–213}}<ref name=":29" />{{rp|162–165}} The jongs that plied the archipelago post-1600s were ranging from 20 to 200 tons deadweight, with a possible average of 100 tons,<ref name=":16" />{{rp|199}} but there are still several of them that could load 200–300 ''lasts'' (about 360–400 to 540–600 metric tons){{refn|A ''last'' was originally a unit of freight volume, subsequently a unit of weight, varying according to the nature of the freight, equalling roughly between 1.8 and 2 metric tons.|group=note}} in the early 1700s.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Malay Words and Malay Things: Lexical Souvenirs from an Exotic Archipelago in German Publications Before 1700|last=Mahdi|first=Waruno|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|year=2007|isbn=978-3-447-05492-8}}</ref>{{rp|223}}